Machine



(No Model.) 4 sheets-sheet 2.

W. A. LORENZ& O. REISING.

- SHEET SBPARATING MACHINE.

No. 570,176. Patented Oct. 27,1896.

Witnesses; fivenfors (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3. W. ALLORENZ 8v 0.REISING.

SHEET SBPARATING MACHINE.

No. 570,176. Patented Oct. 27-, 1896.

WMM-

(No Model.)

4 sneetssneet 4.

W.'A. LORENZ 8v 0. REISING. SHEET SBPARATING MACHINE.

Patented 001;. 27, 1896. v

TVitnesses 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM A. LORENZ, OF HARTFORD, AND CASPER REISING, OF SOUTHING- TON,CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNORS TO THE CONSOLIDATED S. O. S. BAG

COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SHEET-SEPARATING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 570,176, dat d October27, 1896- Application filed January 28, 1895. Serial No. 536,410. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM A. LORENZ, residing at Hartford, and CASPERREISING, residing at Southingtomin the county of Hartford and State ofConnecticut, citizens of the United States, have invented certain newand usefullmprovements in Sheet-Separatin g Machines, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact specification.

The object of this invention is to provide positive means forautomatically separating paper bags, envelops, sheets of paper, orsimilar objects from a pile for the purpose of delivering them singly tovarious kinds of machinery adapted to print, stamp, fold, paste,

or otherwise operate upon them.

The arrangement of our invention described herein and shown in theaccompanying drawings is one which adapts it to the printing of bagsupon a machine of the general form shown and described in Letters PatentNo. 525,999, of September 11, 1894, to Casper Reising.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a front view of a machine embodying ourinvention. Fig. 2 is a view looking from the right-hand side of Fig. 1,and Fig 3 is a View looking from the left-hand side of Fig. 1. In thesethree views enough is shown of the frames and bed of the 0printing-press to enable the relation of our invention thereto to beunderstood. Fig. 4 is a front view of the suction-box, showing theconstruction and relation thereto of the moving suction-plate. Figs. 5and 6 are side views in section, taken on the line cab of Fig. 1 showingthe parts in two different positions.

The numerals 1 and 2 indicate portions of the principal frames of aprinting-machine, having mounted upon them the reciprocating o type-bed3. The construction and mode of operation of these parts and of the rack25, the gear 24, the cylinder 22, the eccentric shaft 23, the arm 28,the rod 30, the gripper 35, its shaft 36, arm 37, spring 38, and cams 39and 40 are similar to the correspondinglynumbered parts of the machineshown and described in the Reising patent above referred to, with theexception that the gripper 35 is herein shown to be at one side of thecylinder, with a similar gripper 35 at the 0pposite side thereof.

The cylinder-shaft 23 is journaled in the brackets 4 and 5, which alsoform supports for the vacuum-box 6. That box is provided with a pipe 7,communicating with any suitable ex- 5 5 hausting mechanism, (not shown,)by means of which a partial vacu umv may be maintained within the box. Agate 8 may be employed to control the degree of vacuum. The upper wallof the box is adapted to support a portion of the under side of a pileof sheets to be separated and fed and is preferably somewhat steeplyinclined in order that the sheets may readily slide down against theirguideplate 20. The sides 9 and 10 are adj ustably mounted on the box, soas to be adapted to the various sizes of sheets within the capacity ofthe machine.

The lower end of the box adjacent to the cylinder is open and hasmounted thereon an oscillating suction-feeder 11, which is journaled orpivoted in bearings 12 and 13 on the suction-box, as shown in Fig. 4,with its axis of oscillation substantially coincident with the loweredge 14 of the suction-box. The end of the stem of the suction-feederhas fixed upon it the arm 15, which is connected by the rod 16 to thecam 17, fixed on the shaft 18. The lower end of the rod is provided witha slot fitting over the shaft 18, by which it is guided, while aprojection 19 of the rod engages with the cam 17. The shaft 18 isjournaled in the frames 1 and 2 and is connected with the motive powerof the machine by spur-gears (not shown) so proportioned as to cause theshaft 18 to make one revolution for each complete reciprocation of thebed and cylinder. The cam 17 is so formed as to cause the feeder tooscillate from the position shown in Fig. 5 to that shown in Fig. 2. Asector-like projection of the feeder is adapted to pass into and fillthe opening in the end of the vacuum-box at all positions of the feeder.This sector portion of the feeder has an airpassage through it,communicating with the 5 interior of the vacuum-box, so that the suctionoperates directly upon the lower sheet when the feeder is broughtagainst it.

A flexible guide-plate 20 is fixed at one end to the arm 21 and isadapted to be sprung into a curve by the thumb-screw 26 on the arm 27.The object of curving this plate is to suitably guide the bottom orgaging ends of the pile of sheets as they are allowed to settle down inthe box by the repeated withdrawal of the undermost sheet. This isespecially desirable when the bags to be fed are of the form known assquare or satchel bottomed, wherein the folded bottoms are thicker thantheir body portions, and where they consequently form a pileconsiderably thicker at the end on which the bottoms are, as shown inFig. 2. The upper bags of such a pile are considerably curved andshortened by reason of the differing. thickness, and it is to suit thisincreased curving and shortening toward the top of the pile that theplate 20 is adapted to be bent, so that the bags as they settle down maystraighten out without requiring to be pushed back upon each other, withthe attendant liability of getting out of register.

A stop-finger 33 is secured to the arm 21 and is similar in form andfunction to the stop-finger 72 of the Reising patent above referred to,excepting that the finger 33 of the present machine is shown to besomewhat wider than that of the Reising machine. It is similarlyconstructed with a spring and set-screw for adjusting it to its mosteffective position.

The separator-blade 4:2 is fixed upon its arm 4:23, which is fixed onone end of the shaft 44. That shaft is journaled in the standard 45, andhas'fixed 011 its other end the arm 46, which is connected by means ofthe rod 47 with the cam 48, fixed on the shaft 18. That cam is so formed as to communicate a suitable movement to the separator-blade for thepurpose hereinafter explained.

The mode of operation of this machine is as follows: The impressionmechanism being made ready, the bags are placed in a pile on thevacuum-box and the box sides are adjusted so as to hold the pile insuitable registering relation to the type. The machine being set inmotion, the bed and the cylinder are caused to reciprocate, as shown anddescribed in the Reising patent referred to, and the devices of ourpresent invention are caused to move in a suitable time and relation tothe motion of the cylinder. The suction-feeder is brought up against theundermost bag, as shown in Fig. 5. The suction communicated from thevacuum-box operates to carry that undermost bag along with the feeder onits return stroke toward the position shown in Fig. 2, drawing the bagaway from the stop-finger and allowing the succeedin g bag to drop downupon that finger. The movement of the separator 42 is now so timed as tocarry it over the undermost bag as it is drawn down by the feeder, so asto separate that bag from the one next to it in case they should cohere,as shown in Fig. 6. These movements of the feeder and of the separatorare continued until they reach the position shown in Fig. 2, in whichthe lower end of the separated bagis carried down upon the cylinder intime to be seized by the grippers 35 35, as they come to the positionshown in the latter figure, which is the limit of their oscillation inthe direction of the arrow '7 5. The cylinder then oscillates in theopposite direction, drawing the separated bag away from the pile, whenthe feeder and the separator return to their positions shown in Fig. 5and operate upon the succeeding bag.

An important and valuable feature of this invention is that of theseparator, inasmuch as in the manufacture of paper bags it frequentlyhappens that they are stuck together by the paste or become mattedtogether by the pressure employed in packing them into bundles. The bagsremain pressed together in these bundles sometimes for weeks, and whenuntied for the purpose of printing they are often so closely mattedtogether as to be difficult of separation by ordinary methods. In theoperation of feeding such a pile of cohering bags with the devices of mypresent i11- vention the tendency of the feeder is to draw down with theundermost bag all those above it which thus cohere, but the resistanceof the bags to this tendency also serves to separate the bottom edges ofthe bags, so as to allow the point of the separator 42 to enter betweenthem, and the movement of that point is so timed with relation to thestroke of the feeder as to enter just above the undermost bag, cleavingit from those above it, as shown in Fig. 6. It often happens that inspite of this operation of the separator, and sometimes as the result ofthat operation, two or more of the bags above the separator are drawnoff from the stop-finger, and, after the separator is withdrawn, falldown toward the feeder. If there were but one of these. bags thusdetached from the finger, it would be carried away at the next stroke ofthe feeder without difficulty, but when there are two or more theyusually require the services of the separator to part them, and in orderto enable them to be presented properly to the action of the separatorthe cam or other means for moving the feeder is adapted to carry thefeeder and the bags at each upward stroke well above the level of thefinger 33, as shown in Fig. 5. Upon the succeeding downward stroke ofthe feeder the finger is thus enabled to operate upon the edges of thebags as a readers finger or thumb operates in running over the leaves ofa book, opening them sufficiently for the separator to enter above theundermost bag, as above described.

An important feature of this invention is the arrangement whereby alarge surface area of the sheet may be subjected to the operation of thesuction devices. Nearly if not quite all of the devices of this classemploy suckers or pipes having small areas ofwhich is brought in contactwith the sheet, the advantage will be seen of having these openings aslarge as possible. By the arrangement herein shown We are enabled toexert the influence of the vacuum over an area of surface suflicientlylarge to separate the sheets with a high degree of certainty, and we arealso enabled to bring the vacuum box or reservoir into closecommunication with the sheet, thus avoiding the necessity of conductingthe air through long, narrow, or tortuous passages. The single slidingor telescoping joint required to retain the connection between thevacuumbox and the oscillating feeder is easily fitted and kept tight,and is, in our opinion, a more desirable connection for the purpose thanthose employing connections made of rubber or other flexible material.

e claim as our invention-- 1. A sheet separating and feeding device,consisting of a table adapted to support a portion of the under surfaceof a pile of sheets, and provided with a vacuum-chamber, and of anoscillating suction-feeder hinged upon the table adjacent to theunsupported portion of the pile, provided with an air-passage throughits operating-surface, communicating with the vacuum Within the chamber,substantially as described.

2. In a sheet separating and feeding machine, the combination of a tableadapted to support a portion of the under surface of a pile of sheets,having an interior chamber in which a partial vacuum is maintained, withan oscillating suction-feeder located thereon, having a sector-shapedportion forming a telescoping extension of the vacuum-chamber to andthrough the operating-surface of the feeder, substantially as described.

3. In a sheet separating and feeding machine, the combination of a tableadapted to support a portion of the under surface of a pile of sheets,having an interior chamber in which a partial vacuum is maintained, astopfinger adapted to support an edge of the remaining portion of thepile, and an oscillating suction-feeder hinged upon the table, andhaving a sector-shaped portion forming a telescoping extension of thevacuum-chamber to pile of sheets, having an interior chamber in which apartial vacuum is maintained, with an oscillating suction-feeder locatedthereon, having a sector-shaped portion forming a telescoping extensionof the vacuum-chamber to and through the operating surface of thefeeder, with a reciprocating separator adapted to pass above theoperating-surface of the feeder, substantially as described.

5. In a sheet separating and feeding machine, the combination of a tableadapted to support a portion of the under surface of a pile of sheets,having an interior chamber in which a partial vacuum is maintained, astopfinger adapted to support an edge of the remaining portion of thepile, and an oscillating suction-feeder hinged upon the table, andhaving a sector-shaped portion forming a telescoping extension of thevacuum-chamber to and through the operating-surface of the feeder, witha reciprocating separator adapted to pass between the suction-feeder andthe stop-finger, substantially as described.

6. In a sheet separating and feeding machine, the combination of a tableadapted to support aportion of the under surface of a pile of sheets,having an interior chamber in which a partial vacuum is maintained, astopfinger adapted to support an edge of the remaining portion of thepile, and an oscillating suction-feeder hinged upon the table, andhaving a sector-shaped portion forming a telescoping extension of thevacuum-chamber to and through the operating-surface of the feeder, andareciprocating separator adapted to pass between the suction-feeder andthe stop-finger with operating means adapted to impart to the feeder andto the separator suitable relative movements, substantially asdescribed.

WILLIAM A. LORENZ. CASPER REISING. Witnesses:

W. H. Homss, A. MUTTER.

